Letters

ER Funding Unfairly Burdens the Poor

While my slow-driving grandmother may be pleased with Senate Bill 807, all we have found is a feel-good way to pass on the cost of emergency health care from the elderly to the young, and from the wealthy to the poor ("A Messy Miracle for the ER," editorial, Sept. 4). Even if we choose to ignore studies showing that minorities may be more frequently stopped by police for traffic offenses, paying for our crisis care through a sin tax only shifts our health cost burden on those who can least afford it.

Tacking on an extra $200 to a traffic fine hits those who make $20,000 a year far harder than those making $200,000.

We need to accept the costs that come with our health-care system and pay for them fairly through a proportional tax, not applaud easy-fix sin taxes that leave poor and working-class Californians footing more than their fair share of the bill.